Microsoft kicked off it’s E3 conference earlier today and wasted no time answering the number 1 question on everyone’s mind about Project Scorpio. Xbox Boss Phil Spencer opened up the show unveiling the Xbox One X which will launch worldwide on November 7. Kareem Choundry head of Xbox software engineering then came on stage to introduce the specs for the new console:
- 6 teraflops GPU clocked at 1.172 Ghz
- 12GBs of GDDR5 memory
- 326GB/s of memory bandwidth
- 8 million plus pixels
- HDR
- Wide color gamut
- Premium Dolby Atmos sound
- 4K UHD Blu-ray playback
- Liquid-cooled vapor chamber
- Super sampling
In addition to all these features Xbox One X is also the smallest Xbox ever. Microsoft showed off 42 games on stage with 22 of them being exclusive to Xbox One and all of them being compatible with members of the Xbox One family.
Forza Motor Sports 7 was also shown off running on Xbox One X at true 4k at 60 fps. Forza announced that they signed a 6 year partnership with Porsche and showed off the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS. They showed some gameplay of the new car on a track designed after one in Dubai. We even got a look at new weather effects and they hinted at some massively scaled environments. It has over 700 cars and the largest collection of Lamborghinis, Porches, and other supercars. It will release on October 3 2017.
Metro Exodus, a new title in the Metro series was premiered for the first time. This first person shooter is set in a vast open post apocalyptic world where the player’s only purpose is to survive against mutant animals.
Assassins Creed Origins also made its official debut on stage with a trailer giving a look at the setting, along with some combat, and gameplay. Creative director for Ubisoft Jean Guesdon came onstage and gave some background to the game. He added that Egypt was the birthplace of the assassin brotherhood. The protagonist’s name Bayek which was leaked ahead of the trailer was confirmed to be true. Ubisoft stated that they revamped their combat and controls and showed some gameplay of the new title running on Xbox One X. The gameplay consisted of some combat, free running, and the use of the controllable bird companion to scope out bases in order to get a lay of the land and to help locate targets. The pause and equipment menu was also shown to give players an example on how they will equip any new weapons they will retrieve. Assassin’s Creed Origins is also confirmed to be released October 27 2017 which was also leaked a few days ago.
Brendan Green creative director for Bluehole revealed that PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds, the multiplayer battler royal game that has been popular on steam is coming exclusively to Xbox later this year. The game boasts 3million PC players.
A new reveal was shown for Deep Rock Galactic another Xbox exclusive. A a game where players control miners called dwarfs who must dig through caves and fight aliens. It has been compared o Minecraft due to it’s style and theme.
State of Decay the open world survival game also received a gameplay trailer with lots of zombies, guns, some base building, making friends, killing friends and some gore at the end of it. The game is set to release on Xbox One early 2018.
Black Desert a popular MMORPG for PC is now coming to Xbox early 2018. It received a gameplay trailer along with the announcement. The developer Pearl Abyss is currently updating the game for Xbox One upgrades.
A few of Indie titles were shown at the conference with The Last Night published by Raw Fury going first. It appears to be a side scrolling game that takes influences inspiration from Blade Runner with a pixelated style. One more Indie game The Artful Escape had a trailer as well and seems to be a visually appealing side scrolling game as well Both these games will be Xbox Exclusives but a release date was not given for these titles. Cuphead another Indie title however was given a release date for September 29.
Some gameplay of The Darwin Project, a new multiplayer survival game from Scavenger Studios was displayed. The game will take place in the Canadian Rockies. During the presentation the game was narrated while the match was ongoing as part of its Show Director mode. “The show director can choose to give the underdog an unforeseen edge or turn the tables on a particularly bloodthirsty contestant by restricting zones, calling in airstrikes, or even triggering a — which reveals a player’s position for a few seconds. ”The players could cloak themselves, use shields, and other sorts of abilities in combat. The game will release for Xbox One initially and will have some features with the Mixer streaming platform.
Brand Director of Moyang Lydia Winters made an appearance to announce that Minecraft will be united across consoles and PC through Xbox Live this Summer. And coming in the Fall Minecraft will receive a free 4k update. They revealed a new look for the game which was inspired by Xbox One X The “Super Duper Graphics Pack“.
Dragon Ball Fighterz, a 2D Dragon Ball Z fighting game was revealed with characters from Goku, Vegeta, Majin Buu, and even Golden Frieza showing up in the trailer. The developers Arc Systems and Bandai Namco will be bringing this new DBZ title early next year.
Code Vein also made an appearance in the form of a trailer along with a 2018 release. It features gameplay reminiscent of the Dark Souls series but with a more anime feel to it.
New gameplay for Sea of Thieves was shown off via a walkthrough by a few demo players. We got a good look at the exploration factor a the players went embarked on an island, in a tomb, as well as a sunken pirate ship. There was also a demonstration of combat against fallen pirates and naval fighting with another ship along with some weather effects.
From the makers of Gone Home developer Fullbright has released a new trailer for Tacoma as well as the release date. In this title the player is abandoned on a space station and is tasked with finding out what happened to the crew. Only by finding clues will they uncover the truth. The game was first announced back in 2014 but is scheduled to release August 2.
Gameplay of a new rendition of the VR title Super Lucky’s Tale was shown and is coming to Xbox One and PC November 7.
Crackdown 3 received a big trailer staring Terry Cruise and a November 7 release date. The game was announced at E3 2014 and aimed to excite players with the possibility of completely destructible environments using cloud computing technology. The last time the game was shown was during Gamescom 2015 where Microsoft clarified that the complete destruction would only be possible during multiplayer features.
Ashen another Indie title set to release in 2018, is an open world survival game that lets players work together to fight monsters in the dark. Players are set in a rather dangerous world devoid of sun. Players can take on their own roles and meet other players with their own separate agendas. Ashen was announced back in 2015 and has been in development for Xbox One and PC.
Life is Strange Before the Storm, the prequel to Square Enix’s Life Is Strange episodic series received a big trailer and looks to tell the Chloe’s story before the events of Life is Strange. This was announced to be a Xbox One X Enhanced title with the first episode set to release August 31.
Michel De Platter was introduced to give some information on Shadow of War. New Gameplay was shown displaying combat, and the new innovations on the nemesis system. The personalities of the different enemies. Army battle features and ambushes were showcased as well. Shadow of War is set to release on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on October 10, 2017.
Ori and The Will of The Wisps had a short teaser trailer, however the sequel contained no gameplay nor a release date.
Phil Spencer Also confirmed that original Xbox games will be coming to backwards compatability across the Xbox One Family. And he also announced that Xbox One X Enhanced games (Halo Wars 2, MineCraft, FFXV Residewnt Evil 7, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Rocket League) will be getting 4k updates adde to them for free. Xbox One X was revealed to be priced for $499.
And Finally Patric Soderlund Executive Vice President of EA Worldwide Studios came and presented an in depth trailer for a brand new title just after teasing it at EA Play. Anthem, Bioware’s new IP is a huge open world game. A gameplay trailer was revealed which gave us a few details about the role players will take on in this title. The player is known as a freelancer whom explores the unknown and protects humanity. We got a closeup look at the javelin suits which are apparently extremely customizable and come in different sizes with abilities and strengths tailored to a players play style. This allows players to add items to their suits to really make combat interesting there were also some extreme weather effects.